NEW ORLEANS – A Georgia-based scaffolding manufacturer doing business in Louisiana is suing Irex Corp. for hiring a former employee who allegedly shared trade secrets.
Brand Services filed a lawsuit Nov. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Irex Corp., citing claims under the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
According to the complaint, former Brand Services IT specialist James Stanich violated his employment agreement when he left the company in June to work for a competitor, Irex Corp.
Despite its awareness of the non-compete agreement, the suit says Irex hired Stanich, who allegedly transferred files and folders from a work-issued laptop to external hard drives or cloud-based servers. The suit claims the transferred data was Brand Services’ confidential and proprietary information.
Brand Services seeks an injunction to preserve the data and prohibit its use, as well as punitive and compensatory damages and litigation costs. It is represented by attorneys Merritt B. Chastain III, Elvige Cassard and Katherine E. Pizzini of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Lousiana Case number 2:15-cv-05712